Fomin and Zelevinsky show that a certain two-parameter family of rational recurrence relations, here called the (b,c) family, possesses the Laurentness property: for all b,c, each term of the (b,c) sequence can be expressed as a Laurent polynomial in the two initial terms. In the case where the positive integers b,c satisfy bc<4, the recurrence is related to the root systems of finite-dimensional rank 2 Lie algebras; when bc>4, the recurrence is related to Kac-Moody rank 2 Lie algebras of hyperbolic type. Here we investigate the borderline cases bc=4, corresponding to Kac-Moody Lie algebras of affine type. In these cases, we show that the Laurent polynomials arising from the recurence can be viewed as generating functions that enumerate the perfect matchings of certain graphs. By providing combinatorial interpretations of the individual coefficients of these Laurent polynomials, we establish their positivity.
We biject two combinatorial models for tensor products of (single-column) Kirillov-Reshetikhin crystals of any classical type $A-D$: the quantum alcove model and the tableau model. This allows us to translate calculations in the former model (of the energy function, the combinatorial $R$-matrix, etc.) to the latter, which is simpler.
In this paper we present several natural $q$-analogues of the poly-Bernoulli numbers arising in combinatorial contexts. We also recall some relating analytical results and ask for combinatorial interpretations.
We suggest the point of view that the Schubert classes of the affine Grassmannian of a simple algebraic group should be considered as Schur-positive symmetric functions. In particular, we give a geometric explanation of the Schur positivity of k-Schur functions (at t = 1). We also put this in the context of the theory of combinatorial Hopf algebras.
Since 1950s, mathematicians have successfully interpreted the traditional Eulerian numbers and $q-$Eulerian numbers combinatorially. In this paper, the authors give a combinatorial interpretation to the general Eulerian numbers defined on general arithmetic progressions { a, a+d, a+2d,...}.
Gaussian blur is a commonly-used method to filter image data. This paper introduces the collapsing sum, a new operator on matrices that provides a combinatorial interpretation of Gaussian blur. We study the combinatorial properties of this operator and prove the explicit relation between Gaussian blur and the collapsing sum.
Recently, Guo and Zeng discovered q-analogues of Faulhaber's formulas for the sums of powers. They left it as an open problem to extend the combinatorial interpretation of Faulhaber's formulas as given by Gessel and Viennot to the q case. In this note we will provide such an interpretation.
We show how the combinatorial interpretation of the normalized median Genocchi numbers in terms of multiset tuples, defined by Hetyei in his study of the alternation acyclic tournaments, is bijectively equivalent to previous models like the normalized Dumont permutations or the Dellac configurations, and we extend the interpretation to the Kreweras triangle.
It is well known that the numbers $(2m)! (2n)!/m! n! (m+n)!$ are integers, but in general there is no known combinatorial interpretation for them. When $m=0$ these numbers are the middle binomial coefficients $\binom{2n}{n}$, and when $m=1$ they are twice the Catalan numbers. In this paper, we give combinatorial interpretations for these numbers when $m=2$ or 3.
The Jacobi-Stirling numbers and the Legendre-Stirling numbers of the first and second kind were first introduced in [6], [7]. In this paper we note that Jacobi-Stirling numbers and Legendre-Stirling numbers are specializations of elementary and complete symmetric functions. We then study combinatorial interpretations of this specialization and obtain new combinatorial interpretations of the Jacobi-Stirling and Legendre-Stirling numbers.
We give a combinatorial interpretation of a classical meta-Fibonacci sequence defined by G(n) = n - G(G(n-1)) with the initial condition G(1) = 1, which appears in Hofstadter's 'Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'. The interpretation is in terms of an infinite labelled tree. We then show a few corollaries about the behaviour of the sequence G(n) directly from the interpretation.
We give a combinatorial interpretation in terms of bicolored ordered trees for the sequence (a_n)_{n>=1}=(1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 20, 36, 73,... ), A345973 in OEIS, whose generating function satisfies the defining identity Sum_{n>=1}a_n x^n = x + x^2/Product_{n>=1}(1 - a_n x^n).
We study certain types of ideals in the standard Borel subalgebra of an untwisted affine Lie algebra. We classify these ideals in terms of the root combinatorics and give an explicit formula for the number of such ideals in type $A$. The formula involves various aspects of combinatorics of Dyck paths and leads to a new interesting integral sequence.
Nicholas Pippenger and Kristin Schleich have recently given a combinatorial interpretation for the second-order super-Catalan numbers (u_{n})_{n>=0}=(3,2,3,6,14,36,...): they count "aligned cubic trees" on n internal vertices. Here we give a combinatorial interpretation of the recurrence u_{n} = Sum_{k=0}^{n/2-1} ({n-2}choose{2k} 2^{n-2-2k} u_{k}): it counts these trees by number of deep interior vertices where deep interior means "neither a leaf nor adjacent to a leaf".
The title identity appeared as Problem 75-4, proposed by P. Barrucand, in Siam Review in 1975. The published solution equated constant terms in a suitable polynomial identity. Here we give a combinatorial interpretation in terms of card deals.
The tableau model for Kirillov-Reshetikhin (KR) crystals, which are finite dimensional crystals corresponding to certain affine Lie algebras, is commonly used for its ease of crystal operator calculations. However, its simplicity makes quite complex the calculation of statistics such as: keys (used to express Demazure characters), the crystal energy function (an affine grading on tensor products of KR crystals), and the combinatorial R-matrix (an affine crystal isomorphism permuting factors in a tensor product of KR crystals). It has been shown that these calculations are much simpler with the…
We present a new combinatorial formula for Hall-Littlewood functions associated with the affine root system of type $\tilde A_{n-1}$, i.e. corresponding to the affine Lie algebra $\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_n$. Our formula has the form of a sum over the elements of a basis constructed by Feigin, Jimbo, Loktev, Miwa and Mukhin in the corresponding irreducible representation. Our formula can be viewed as a weighted sum of exponentials of integer points in a certain infinite-dimensional convex polyhedron. We derive a weighted version of Brion's theorem and then apply it to our polyhedron to prove the fo…
We study $321$-avoiding affine permutations, and prove a formula for their enumeration with respect to the inversion number by using a combinatorial approach. This is done in two different ways, both related to Viennot's theory of heaps. First, we encode these permutations using certain heaps of monomers and dimers. This method specializes to the case of affine involutions. For the second proof, we introduce periodic parallelogram polyominoes, which are new combinatorial objects of independent interest. We enumerate them by extending the approach of Bousquet-Mélou and Viennot used for classica…
The identity j/n {kn}\choose{n+j} =(k-1) {kn-1}\choose{n+j-1}- {kn-1}\choose{n+j} shows that j/n {kn}\choose{n+j} is always an integer. Here we give a combinatorial interpretation of this integer in terms of lattice paths, using a uniformly distributed statistic. In particular, the case j=1,k=2 gives yet another manifestation of the Catalan numbers.
We study combinatorial aspects of the Schubert calculus of the affine Grassmannian Gr associated with SL(n,C). Our main results are: 1) Pieri rules for the Schubert bases of H^*(Gr) and H_*(Gr), which expresses the product of a special Schubert class and an arbitrary Schubert class in terms of Schubert classes. 2) A new combinatorial definition for k-Schur functions, which represent the Schubert basis of H_*(Gr). 3) A combinatorial interpretation of the pairing between homology and cohomology of the affine Grassmannian. These results are obtained by interpreting the Schubert bases of Gr combin…
The restricted partitions in which the largest part is less than or equal to $N$ and the number of parts is less than or equal to $k$ were investigated by Andrews in \cite{Andrews76}. These partitions were extended recently by the author to the partitions into parts of two kinds. In this paper, we use a new class of restricted partitions into parts of two kinds to provide new combinatorial interpretations for two identities of Guo and Yang.
David Little developed a combinatorial algorithm to study the Schur-positivity of Stanley symmetric functions and the Lascoux-Schützenberger tree. We generalize this algorithm to affine Stanley symmetric functions.
In math.CO/0109093 the author obtained a formula for the value of an irreducible symmetric group character indexed by a partition of rectangular shape. In the present paper this formula is (conjecturally) generalized to arbitrary shapes.
Stanley has studied a symmetric function generalization X_G of the chromatic polynomial of a graph G. The innocent-looking Stanley-Stembridge Poset Chain Conjecture states that the expansion of X_G in terms of elementary symmetric functions has nonnegative coefficients if G is a clawfree incomparability graph. Here we give a combinatorial interpretation of these coefficients by combining Gasharov's work on the conjecture with Egecioglu and Remmel's combinatorial interpretation of the inverse Kostka matrix. This gives a new proof of a partial nonnegativity result of Stanley. As an interesting b…
We study the combinatorial description of the LDU decomposition of totally positive matrices. We give a description of the lower triangular L, the diagonal D, and the upper triangular U matrices of the LDU decomposition of totally positive matrices in terms of the combinatorial structure of essential planar networks described by Zelvinsky and Fomin. Similarly, we find a combinatorial description of the inverses of these matrices. In addition, we provide recursive formulae for computing the L, D, and U matrices of a totally positive matrix.
In this paper we give a combinatorial interpretation for the coefficient of $s_ν$ in the Kronecker product $s_{(n-p,p)}\ast s_λ$, where $λ=(λ_1, ..., λ_{\ell(λ)})\vdash n$, if $\ell(λ)\geq 2p-1$ or $λ_1\geq 2p-1$; that is, if $λ$ is not a partition inside the $2(p-1)\times 2(p-1)$ square. For $λ$ inside the square our combinatorial interpretation provides an upper bound for the coefficients. In general, we are able to combinatorially compute these coefficients for all $λ$ when $n>(2p-2)^2$. We use this combinatorial interpretation to give characterizations for multiplicity free Kronecker produ…
The monic sequence that shifts left under convolution with itself is the Catalan numbers with 130+ combinatorial interpretations. Here we establish a combinatorial interpretation for the monic sequence that shifts left under composition: it counts permutations that contain a 3241 pattern only as part of a 35241 pattern. We give two recurrences, the first allowing relatively fast computation, the second similar to one for the Catalan numbers. Among the 4 times 4! = 96 similarly restricted patterns involving 4 letters (such as 4\underline{2}31: a 431 pattern only occurs as part of a 4231), four …
Let s and t be variables. Define polynomials {n} in s, t by {0}=0, {1}=1, and {n}=s{n-1}+t{n-2} for n >= 2. If s, t are integers then the corresponding sequence of integers is called a Lucas sequence. Define an analogue of the binomial coefficients by C{n,k}={n}!/({k}!{n-k}!) where {n}!={1}{2}...{n}. It is easy to see that C{n,k} is a polynomial in s and t. The purpose of this note is to give two combinatorial interpretations for this polynomial in terms of statistics on integer partitions inside a k by n-k rectangle. When s=t=1 we obtain combinatorial interpretations of the fibonomial coeffic…
The classical Gindikin-Karpelevich formula appears in Langlands' calculation of the constant terms of Eisenstein series on reductive groups and in Macdonald's work on p-adic groups and affine Hecke algebras. The formula has been generalized in the work of Garland to the affine Kac-Moody case, and the affine case has been geometrically constructed in a recent paper of Braverman, Finkelberg, and Kazhdan. On the other hand, there have been efforts to write the formula as a sum over Kashiwara's crystal basis or Lusztig's canonical basis, initiated by Brubaker, Bump, and Friedberg. In this paper, w…
The Catalan transform of a sequence (a_{n})_{n>=0} is the sequence (b_{n})_{n>=0} with b_{n} = Sum[k/(2n-k) (2n-k)-choose-(n-k) a_{k},k=0..n]. Here we show that the Catalan transform of the Catalan numbers has a simple interpretation: it counts functions f:[1,n] -> [1,n] satisfying the condition that, for all i<j, f(j)-(j-i) is not in the interval [1,f(i)-1].
Using generating functions and some trivial bijections, we show in this paper that the binomial coefficients count the set of (123,132) and (123,213)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings. We also define a q-tableau of power of two and prove that it counts the set of (213,312) and (132,312)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings.
We introduce the notion of standard multipartitions and establish a one-to-one correspondence between standard multipartitions and irreducible representations with integral weights for the affine Hecke algebra of type A with a parameter q which is not a root of unity. We then extend the correspondence to all Kleshchev multipartitions for Ariki-Koike algebras of integral type. By the affine Schur--Weyl duality, we further extend this to a correspondence between standard multipartitions and Drinfeld multipolynomials of integral type whose associated irreducible polynomial representations complet…
In this paper, we apply the combinatorial proof technique of Description, Involution, Exceptions (DIE) to prove various known identities for the joint cumulant. Consider a set of random variables $S = \{X_1,..., X_n\} $. Motivated by the definition of the joint cumulant, we define $ \sC(S) $ as the set of cyclically arranged partitions of $S$, allowing us to express the joint cumulant of $ S $ as a weighted, alternating sum over $\sC(S)$. We continue to define other combinatorial objects that allow us to rewrite expressions originally in terms of the joint cumulant as weighted sums over the se…
For any integer s >= 0, we derive a combinatorial interpretation for the family of sequences generated by the recursion (parameterized by s) h_s(n) = h_s(n - s - h_s(n - 1)) + h_s(n - 2 - s - h_s(n - 3)), n > s + 3, with the initial conditions h_s(1) = h_s(2) = ... = h_s(s+2) = 1 and h_s(s+3) = 2. We show how these sequences count the number of leaves of a certain infinite tree structure. Using this interpretation we prove that h_s sequences are "slowly growing", that is, h_s sequences are monotone nondecreasing, with successive terms increasing by 0 or 1, so each sequence hits every positive …
We introduce a family of tableaux that simultaneously generalizes the tableaux used to characterize Grothendieck polynomials and k-Schur functions. We prove that the polynomials drawn from these tableaux are the affine Grothendieck polynomials and k-K-Schur functions -- Schubert representatives for the K-theory of affine Grassmannians and their dual in the nil Hecke ring. We prove a number of combinatorial properties including Pieri rules.
We define three combinatorial models for \hat{sl(n)} crystals, parametrized by partitions, configurations of beads on an `abacus', and cylindric plane partitions, respectively. These are reducible, but we can identify an irreducible subcrystal corresponding to any dominant integral highest weight. Cylindric plane partitions actually parametrize a basis for the tensor product of an irreducible representation with the space spanned by all partitions. We use this to calculate the partition function for a system of random cylindric plane partitions. We also observe a form of rank level duality. Fi…
We give a combinatorial description of the composition factors of the induction product of two evaluation modules of the affine Iwahori-Hecke algebra of type GL(m). Using quantum affine Schur-Weyl duality, this yields a combinatorial description of the composition factors of the tensor product of two evaluation modules of the quantum affine algebra of type sl(n).
We use a q-series identity by Ramanujan to give a combinatorial interpretation of Ramanujan's tau function which involves t-cores and a new class of partitions which we call (m,k)-capsids. The same method can be applied in conjunction with other related identities yielding alternative combinatorial interpretations of the tau function.
Let $\overline{\mathtt{X}}_λ$ be the closure of the $\mathtt{I}$-orbit $\mathtt{X}_λ$ in the affine Grassmanian $\mathtt{Gr}$ of a simple algebraic group $G$ of adjoint type, where $\mathtt{I}$ is the Iwahori group and $λ$ is a coweight of $G$. We find a simple algorithm which describes the set $Ψ(λ)$ of all $\mathtt{I}$-orbits in $\overline{\mathtt{X}}_λ$ in terms of coweights. We introduce $R$-operators (associated to positive roots) on the coweight lattice of $G$, which exactly describe the closure relation of $\mathtt{I}$-orbits. These operators satisfy Braid relations generically on the c…
The super Catalan numbers $T(m,n)=(2m)!(2n)!/2m!n!(m+n)!$ are integers which generalize the Catalan numbers. With the exception of a few values of $m$, no combinatorial interpretation in known for $T(m,n)$. We give a weighted interpretation for $T(m,n)$ and develop a technique that converts this weighted interpretation into a conventional combinatorial interpretation in the case $m=2$.
Several combinatorial actions of the affine Weyl group of type $\widetilde{C}_{n}$ on triangulations, trees, words and permutations are compared. Addressing a question of David Vogan, we show that, modulo a natural involution, these permutation representations are multiplicity-free. The proof uses a general construction of Gelfand subgroups in the affine Weyl groups of types $\widetilde{C}_{n}$ and $\widetilde{B}_n$.
We construct the affine version of the Fomin-Kirillov algebra, called the affine FK algebra, to investigate the combinatorics of affine Schubert calculus for type $A$. We introduce Murnaghan-Nakayama elements and Dunkl elements in the affine FK algebra. We show that they are commutative as Bruhat operators, and the commutative algebra generated by these operators is isomorphic to the cohomology of the affine flag variety. We show that the cohomology of the affine flag variety is product of the cohomology of an affine Grassmannian and a flag variety, which are generated by MN elements and Dunkl…
In this paper we give a combinatorial parametrization of leading terms of defining relations for level $k$ standard modules for affine Lie algebra of type $C_{n}\sp{(1)}$. Using this parametrization we conjecture colored Rogers-Ramanujan type combinatorial identities for $n\geq 2$ and $k\geq 2$; the identity in the case $n=k=1$ is equivalent to one of Capparelli's identities.
The main result of this paper is a combinatorial description of a basis of standard level 1 module for the twisted affine Lie algebra $A_2^{(2)}.$ This description also gives two new combinatorial identities of Göllnitz (or Rogers--Ramanujan) type. Methods used through the paper are mainly developed by J. Lepowsky, R. L. Wilson, A. Meurman and M. Primc, and the crucial role in constructions plays a vertex operator algebra approach to standard representations of affine Lie algebras.
We consider the tiling of an $n$-board (a $1\times n$ array of square cells of unit width) with half-squares ($\frac12\times1$ tiles) and $(\frac12,\frac12)$-fence tiles. A $(\frac12,\frac12)$-fence tile is composed of two half-squares separated by a gap of width $\frac12$. We show that the number of ways to tile an $n$-board using these types of tiles equals $F_{n+1}^2$ where $F_n$ is the $n$th Fibonacci number. We use these tilings to devise combinatorial proofs of identities relating the Fibonacci numbers squared to one another and to other number sequences. Some of these identities appear …
Let G be a graph, and let $χ$G be its chromatic polynomial. For any non-negative integers i, j, we give an interpretation for the evaluation $χ$ (i) G (--j) in terms of acyclic orientations. This recovers the classical interpretations due to Stanley and to Green and Zaslavsky respectively in the cases i = 0 and j = 0. We also give symmetric function refinements of our interpretations, and some extensions. The proofs use heap theory in the spirit of a 1999 paper of Gessel.
The Jacobi-Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds were introduced in 2006 in the spectral theory and are polynomial refinements of the Legendre-Stirling numbers. Andrews and Littlejohn have recently given a combinatorial interpretation for the second kind of the latter numbers. Noticing that these numbers are very similar to the classical central factorial numbers, we give combinatorial interpretations for the Jacobi-Stirling numbers of both kinds, which provide a unified treatment of the combinatorial theories for the two previous sequences and also for the Stirling numbers of both ki…
We describe a method for constructing characters of combinatorial Hopf algebras by means of integrals over certain polyhedral cones. This is based on ideas from resurgence theory, in particular on the construction of well-behaved averages induced by diffusion processes on the real line. We give several interpretations and proofs of the main result in terms of noncommutative symmetric and quasisymmetric functions, as well as generalizations involving matrix quasi-symmetric functions. The interpretation of noncommutative symmetric functions as alien operators in resurgence theory is also discuss…
The Alladi-Gordon identity plays an important role for the Alladi-Gordon generalization of Schur's partition theorem. By using Joichi-Stanton's insertion algorithm, we present an overpartition interpretation for the Alladi-Gordon key identity. Based on this interpretation, we further obtain a combinatorial proof of the Alladi-Gordon key identity by establishing an involution on the underlying set of overpartitions.
We introduce abacus diagrams that describe minimal length coset representatives in affine Weyl groups of types B, C, and D. These abacus diagrams use a realization of the affine Weyl group of type C due to Eriksson to generalize a construction of James for the symmetric group. We also describe several combinatorial models for these parabolic quotients that generalize classical results in affine type A related to core partitions.
